Chapter 71

Shelly and Allie were bubbly the whole way home. They took turns explaining what had played out in each of their sections of Daystar Studios.

"You would not believe it!" Allie gushed. "I walked in and the contract was exactly like we'd discussed. He had already faxed a copy to Celina who had read it and signed off on it. It was easier than renting a car. One year with a mutual option for a second. Fifty K to start plus a cut of my downloads. He even back-dated that to last week so I get 50 cents off each download of what Derrick and I did and 75 cents for future videos. Can you believe that? He wants me to do an online chat once a month with fans and make sure that there is a link to Daystar from any individual web site I am associated with. Outside of that, he only wants me to run any outside projects past him or Ben before accepting them."

"That is amazing," Shelly answered. "Things are really looking up for you and Sarah. You've got the Peaches shoot coming up next month; by summer we'll be shooting 'Dragon Lore.' I really figured it would take us a year to get to this point. It's only been a month!"

"So you've decided it can be done?" Allie wondered.

"Oh, it can be done," Shelly hedged. "Right now, our biggest problem is finding somewhere to shoot it. The lack of a soundstage isn't going to be easy to overcome. But once we figure that out, we'll be ready to shoot as soon as it can be cast."

"Sounds like you've been convinced," Allie said with a smile.

"Do you realize you made $25,000 today?" Shelly posed.

"What?" Allie replied.

"Just what I said," Shelly told her. "When you signed a deal for 50 cents per download, you made $25,000. Ben said your videos have been downloaded 50,000 times. He is convinced this will make huge profits. If we keep the budget to about $30,000 – and Ben is convinced we can do it for less if we need to and still make a quality product – he said we can sell them for 50 cents each and make our money back with no problem. He predicts we can make our investment back in less than a day. The 50,000 downloads is the number he used to convince me."

"Damn," Allie said, shaking her head. "You're not kidding me, right?"

Shelly said she wasn't joking in the least.

"Ben said anything more than $30,000 would be overkill," Shelly said. "And that for $50,000 he could land Cassie Charms and Rita Looker for parts. He thinks talent will be the biggest obstacle after the soundstage. Oh, and Holly Ball is pregnant so she's out."

"That's great!" Allie said happily. "I mean, not the she's out of the movie but that's she's pregnant. Sarah said Holly was really excited at the prospect. Wow! We really have some news to deliver to Adam when we get home. Uh, do you think he'd be mad if I offered him 10 cents of the 50 I'm getting? I mean, you know, if we don't tell him how big the number really is?"

"Probably," Shelly said after thinking for a moment. "He's so weird about that. I mean, he would literally give you the coat off his back. But he won't accept anything from anyone."

"Maybe I can convince him it's Tate's idea," Allie said. She really wanted Adam to have a little nest egg so he wouldn't feel as though he had to take projects just to get by.

"Don't lie to him," Shelly urged. "I learned my lesson on that with his car. I was terrified that he would never trust me again. I don't think it would hurt to offer it. Maybe even just a nickel per download."

"Well, I wouldn't be where I am without him," Allie said. "He needs to understand that the things that are happening to me, Sarah and you – good things, all of them – are because he's there. If he hadn't come along, I would have been doing some really rancid things this week. I wouldn't have stood up to Tate or to Sven or the Dragon Lady. I would have wound up doing things I really didn't want to do just to keep my finances in order. I should be giving him the whole amount because the only reason I have it is because he was there with me – and you and Sarah, too."

"I'll take 10 percent no problem," Shelly joked. "Oh, you were talking money. I'll take my cut in sexual favors."

"I've been meaning to ask you," Allie said after a pause. "Are you OK on money?"

"I'm good," Shelly said. "I've got enough to chip in on rent for the next two months and to pay for food and stuff."

"I'm not worried about that," Allie answered. "Look, I've made a shitload of money in the last week. Tate said he would cut me a check for the download fees at the end of the week. I was thinking, you know, maybe $5,000. It didn't really hit me how much he was offering. I put $7,000 of what Gloria gave me in the bank. I made $5,000 from Miami and my shoot with Daystar. I'm doing really well and I don't mind, you know, helping if I can."

"You'll need a lot of that money to pay your taxes," Shelly said. "Besides, I'm OK. I have about $2,000 and my scholarship kicks in June 1st. But I do appreciate the offer and I'll tell you if things get tight."

"Well, my taxes are already set aside," Allie insisted. "I put 30 percent of every penny I bring home in a separate account that I can't access without going inside the bank. I bet it has close to $40,000 in there. Sheila Corvette told me to make sure I do that. She showed me a list of about 30 adult actresses who are serving time in federal prison for tax evasion and I will not fall in that boat. I didn't make a whole lot last year. I would guess I'm going to have to pay taxes on about $40,000 or so."

"What about from the club?" Shelly wondered.

"That one is a bit different," Allie admitted. "I don't have to claim all of my tips. I worked as in independent contractor there, too, but not really. My tax form said I made only $11,500 from there and I'll probably claim another $10,000 in tips. There is really no way to verify how often I worked there or how much money I made. For all anyone could prove, I only worked once a week. It's not like there is a time clock or anything."

"Just don't get into trouble," Shelly cautioned.

Allie smiled.

"I won't," she assured her friend. "I've been that route before. I mean, back home, I didn't have to claim anything because I was using someone else's ID. I'm sure they were pissed off if the IRS ever found out. But I'm good. Still, I'll take everything to an accountant next week and I'll follow his advice."

"I'd visit you," Shelly said with a smile. "In prison, I mean. Will you get conjugal visits?"

Sarah and Adam spent the morning bustling around checking boxes and deciding what was getting unpacked and what was being transported. Karlie helped where she could and stayed out of the way when she needed to.

"You guys seem like you've been together forever," Karlie remarked as Sarah and Adam were going through some of Sarah's belongings. "It's hard to believe it's only been a few weeks."

"It feels like we've known each other for a long time," Adam said. "Yet, it's cool because I still learn something new and fascinating about all of them every day. It will probably be that way when I'm 80."

"When you're 80 you'll have forgotten so much you won't know if it's new or a repeat," Sarah joked. "But he's right. I guess that is key. We all are very similar in a lot of ways. But we're different enough that we still have our own interests."

"I, uh, I guess I sort of thought that it was sex that was the main part of your relationships," Karlie admitted. "It wasn't really until yesterday that I saw it was more than that. Even with the other group – uh, Sean and Walt and Rachelle and Mary – I thought it was that way. This is just more than I'm ready to commit to."

"It's OK," Adam assured her. "Things moved too quickly. There is no harm in taking a step backward to see where you fit. At least I don't think there is."

"I just don't want anyone to think I used them or anything," Karlie told them. "If I did, I didn't mean to."

"We don't think that," Sarah replied. "At least I don't and I think you'd know if anyone had that impression. Don't worry about things. You're still welcome here and we still consider you a friend. If more comes of it, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't."

"You know you owe Trinity a freebie," Karlie said, a half smile forming on her face. "Or at least Adam owes her one."

Sarah smirked.

"Oh, I think Miss Duval might find herself in our clutches before too long," Sarah joked. "I've got to make a couple of calls. Can I trust you two by yourselves or do I need to stay here and chaperone?"

"We're good," Karlie laughed.

"Speak for yourself," Adam said with a wink. "Speak for yourself."

Sarah was surprised how easy it was to get through the switchboard to Ellen Perry at Dazzle Video.

"Good morning, Ms. Perry," Sarah said amiably. "I just wanted to check to make sure there were no problems with the photo shoot from Thursday."

"My father is handling that now," Ellen said. There was only a trace of amiability in her voice.

"Could you see if he is available?" Sarah tried. She was put on hold without another word. After several minutes of listening to silence, she was about to hang up when Jerry Goldsmith's voice came on the line.

"Hello, Sarah!" he said cheerfully.

"Mr. Goldsmith," Sarah replied, the lightness she had used earlier had been replaced by disappointment. She could see the thought of a contract with Dazzle evaporating quickly. "As I told your daughter, oh, seven minutes ago now, I wanted to see if any issues had cropped up with the photos or if you needed anything more from me to get 'Interludes' ready."

"Things are looking very good on that front," Jerry said. "I spoke with our investors over the weekend. We have decided to offer the entire video in five days. But we're going to upload the individual scenes at the same time – providing we can work out a deal with Subarctic to use their new protection software. Do you think that will be a possibility?"

"That's not my decision to make," Sarah said. "I'd vote to do that but I can't say how anyone else will vote. We've already got a beta tester and I'm not sure how much the licenses will cost. If it clears the patent office, we could be sitting on a gold mine here. Still if we run into any issues with patents, it could create problems for you down the road. I should be able to have an answer for you by the first of next week. Will that suffice?"

"It will have to," Jerry said, his eagerness dissipating. He brightened again after an instant. "Well, no matter. If we have to delay the single scene uploads, it won't kill us. I think many people will pay $14 for one scene instead of $39 for five. But we'll see. It's a test run and it doesn't really cost us much. I still need to talk to Mary about hosting our entire outfit. She was right about our security and how our web guy was working us. I'm not real happy with the situation on that front but, well, I honestly didn't know better. Now, on another topic, as you obviously know, Dazzle is very interested in having you be the face of our features line. Do you think you would be available to discuss that say, tomorrow or Wednesday?"